The Irish community is one of New York City's major and important ethnic groups, and has been a significant proportion of the city's population since the waves of immigration in the late 19th century.
As a result of the Great Famine in Ireland, many Irish families were forced to emigrate from the country. By 1854, between 1.5 and 2 million Irish had left their country. In the United States, most Irish became city-dwellers. With little money, many had to settle in the cities that the ships landed in. By 1850, the Irish made up a quarter of the population in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Buffalo, and Baltimore.
New York City today has the largest number of Irish-Americans of any city in the United States.[1] During the Celtic Tiger years, when the Irish economy was booming, the city saw a buying spree of residences by native Irish as second homes[2] or as investment property.[3]
Irish Americans make up approximately 5.3% of New York City's population, composing the second largest non-Hispanic white ethnic group.[4] Irish Americans first came to America in colonial years (pre-1776), with immigration rising in the 1820s due to poor living conditions in Ireland.[5] But the largest wave of Irish immigration came after the Great Famine in 1845.[5] The largest number of Irish immigrants came from some of Ireland's most populous counties, such as Cork, Galway, and Tipperary, surprisingly large numbers also originated in Counties Cavan, Meath, Dublin, and Queen's County, places not usually associated with the highest levels of emigration.[6]
In the "early days", the 19th century, the Irish formed a predominant part of the European immigrant population of New York City, a "city of immigrants", which added to the city's diversity to this day.[7]
After they came, Irish immigrants often crowded into subdivided homes, only meant for one family, and cellars, attics, and alleys all became home for some Irish immigrants.[8] In fact, New York once had more Irishmen than Dublin itself.[8] New York has long been a destination for Irish immigrants because they speak English, and there has long been a large Irish population there.[9]
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, was originally developed as a resort for wealthy Manhattanites in 1879, but instead became a family-oriented Italian- and Irish-American community.[10] Another large Irish-American community is located in Woodlawn, Bronx,[9] but Woodlawn also has a mix of different ethnic groups.[11] One large Irish community in Manhattan was Hell's Kitchen.[12]
The Irish in New York developed a particular reputation for joining the New York City Police Department as well as the New York Fire Department.[citation needed]
Fairytale of New York by Irish band The Pogues refers to the NYPD choir singing Galway Bay. This is traditional because the force traditionally was largely made up of Irish Americans.
Helmreich, William B. (2013). The New York Nobody Knows: Walking 6000 Miles in the City. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton U. Press. ISBN978-0-691-14405-4. ((cite book)): Invalid |ref=harv (help)
^An Irish Taste for Real Estate in Manhattan, by Patrick McHeehan, N.Y. Times, May 8, 2007 (The page number is not available; it is available on-line with registration).
^Anbinder, Tyler (10.1017/ihs.2015.22). "Which Irish men and women immigrated to the United States during the Great Famine migration of 1846-54?". Irish historical studies. 39: 620–642. ((cite journal)): Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)
^A bit o' the Irish brogue: Woodlawn: An Irish enclave in the far reaches of the Bronx, by Patrick Ward, amNY, February 8, 2007, at pp. 34, 36, 38; see also at [1].
^ abEllen Freudenheim, Queens: What to do, where to go (and how not to get lost) in New York's Undiscovered Borough, pp. pp. 15-16 (Woodside), 262-265 (Rockaways), 267-275 (Sunnyside), 277-287 (Woodside). (St. Martin's NY 2006) ISBN0-312-35818-0.
^Bayor and Meaghar (1996). The New York Irish. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN0-8018-5199-8. (p. 414)